Farmall H won't pull

I have 2 farmall H's from 2 seperate sources. I have adjusted clutches etc and all seem to be okay. They work just fine in the lower gears pulling a trailer loaded on relatively flat ground but do good to barely pull themselves up a very very slight hill on the road in the 2 higher gears. I'd like to use one of these to pull a hay ride trailer but they won't even pull themselves much less a trailer with people. Does anybody have an idea of what could be wrong or what i need to try or do. They will not pull like my JD's do except in the lower slow gears and those are way too slow for the hay ride shuttle we use at a local festival.
 
there is a lot of variables, here first the H if its a regular H is rated at 24 horsepower, about the same as a ford N series, the reason it makes the N look bad is the H is much larger, heavier, and is better geared and thus it is able to pull much better and get more done than a ford N series, but very few tractors will pull good in the top gears road gear is mainly for transporting the tractor from one field to the next the next lower is for light work, say pulling something like a empty wagon, if your a jd man, you are used to a tractor with a completely different set of operating perimeters, the jd makes its pulling power with a massive amount of weight in motion, at a low rpm, this will allow it to keep lugging thru a hard spot in the field without stalling, or pull a loaded wagon at low rpm the H makes its power with rpm, meaning it has to be wound up more than the jd does to do the same work, once the rmp drops, so does the ability to keep lugging, pulling a hay ride wagon will depend on the size of the wagon, the number of people on it, and how steep the hill is that you going up, the last ride i pulled i had a 16 foot trailer, and 12 people on it, and power was a farmall cub, in 2nd gear, but the ground i was on was almost perfectly flat and hard, or the cub would not have done it, if both H's behave the same way from 2 different sources, im betting the tractor is fine, just have to drop it a gear down and enjoy the ride
 
5th gear is a road gear (meant for use going from field to field, not for work), should be able to reach about 18mph....that's a little fast for a hay ride!

4th gear, well, if your dying to go that fast with a load of people, I'd start with a tune up and see what that gets you.
 
You have to be more specific than that.

What do you mean by "barely pull?"

Does the engine run out of power? Does the tractor just sit there with the engine roaring away?
 
You don't say what they are doing. Is the clutch slipping or are you running out of power????

If you are running out of horse power then welcome to reality of a worn out small horse power tractor with a fast road gear. An IH "H" was only 17-19 horse power when brand new.

I know that I will get beat up by some guys but here goes. We had two Farmall "H" tractors when I was a kid. About the only thing they where any good for was pulling a hay rake. IF the ground got hard they would not push a four row cultivator. We would have to take one side off. You did not dare try to pull a loaded wagon on any of our hills. You would get pushed all over the place going down the hill and spin out or kill them going up the hill. Real gutless wonders. They are kind of like an 8N Ford: they beat a team of horses by a little bit. I know they sold millions of them but most of those fellows where buying their first tractor and did not have much else to compare them too.
 
Okay here is a reply so you all have more information to work with. The engine does not stall. It keeps running just fine. The tractor just quits moving. Believe me this hill is very slight. really almost no hill at all. All I have used this tractor for since i got it was raking hay and pulling a 16 ft trailer around the farm loading junk to be hauled however the last 2 loads of junk were heavy loads and it pulled just fine on relatively level hard ground. I realize high gear is road gear and would not pull a hay ride that fast but this tractor would not pull itself if I was moving it from field to field.I have been pulling this shuttle with a 43' JD A in 5 th gear and it is about the right speed for the 3 mile round trip. The lower H gears that this tractor will pull in will be way too slow for the traffic. This is really more of a people mover at the festival than a hay ride. I would just like to use the H because it is electric starting and to do something different. So any ideas?
 
(quoted from post at 15:21:00 12/12/12) You don't say what they are doing. Is the clutch slipping or are you running out of power????

If you are running out of horse power then welcome to reality of a worn out small horse power tractor with a fast road gear. An IH "H" was only 17-19 horse power when brand new.

I know that I will get beat up by some guys but here goes. We had two Farmall "H" tractors when I was a kid. About the only thing they where any good for was pulling a hay rake. IF the ground got hard they would not push a four row cultivator. We would have to take one side off. You did not dare try to pull a loaded wagon on any of our hills. You would get pushed all over the place going down the hill and spin out or kill them going up the hill. Real gutless wonders. They are kind of like an 8N Ford: they beat a team of horses by a little bit. I know they sold millions of them but most of those fellows where buying their first tractor and did not have much else to compare them too.

I'll take a Farmall H any day over an 8n Ford or even a John Deere A, and yes, I said John Deere A.

A Farmall H, in good condition and tuned up properly will easily pull itself in 5th gear on the road and will do so even on hills. An empty hay wagon will effect it very little and several folks on a hay ride shouldn't bother it all that much either.
 
Also i don't think the engine is worn out at least on one of them because the previous owner stated it had been rebuilt a few years back and it shows all those signs. Starts, runs, idles great.
 
Even die hard IH guys are divided over the legacy of the H. A lot more H's than M's sold around here back in the day. Most pulled 2-12's and if an owner had extra money he would have a set of 2-14's for any "light" fields. It seemed the H could move only slightly more than itself in road gear. A wagon full of hay 4th gear or 3rd gear if hilly (but not steep).
 
I think you're expecting a bit too much from them.

My H has been a faithful workhorse in the family for 50 years. HOWEVER, it has its limits. It will hit 24 mph in 5th gear with no load, but you need a rolling start in 4th and it takes a long time to get there. I wouldn't even consider pulling any kind of load in 5th.

Even in 4th, you run out of ponies real fast with any kind of a load.
 
This is why I posted. I am confused in that some say what you have and others seem to think in 4th it should pull better. What your saying about the rolling start in 4th is describing my tractor more accurately. I have way more JD's than Farmalls but I am not a purist. I like a lot of the old tractors for the differences they have. I have been trying to increase my Farmall collection. My main reason for considering this is another operator used a Super C for several years with no problems and moved fast enough to be no problem with traffic so i figured if a C could do it an H should be able to as well.
 
If you're not running out of power, the clutch is either BADLY adjusted, or shot.

You should have about 1" of free clutch pedal travel before it meets resistance.

The clutch and pressure plate on an H can be changed from underneath without splitting the tractor.
 
You must not have much in the way of hills. Here is a picture of my drive way. Neither of the two "H" Farmalls would pull this hill in road gear empty. Put a wagon behind them and it had better be empty or you would come down it back wards.

I am not a big two cylinder/hand clutch fan but a JD "A" would drag an Farmall "H" around all day long. You are comparing two different size tractors.
a92360.jpg
 
Do you see any oil dripping under it? After reading all of your responses to everybody else,I'm wondering if the clutch is oil soaked?
 
Changing the clutch and pressure plate without splitting the tractor is really good news. Is that very hard to do or are there any tricks/tips?
 
Your Hs have problems. The one we had growing up would drop to 4th to pull a loaded hay wagon up that hill but would pull itself (no load) up something like that with no issues. It's not like ours was in all that great of shape either.
 
You said, "The engine does not stall. It keeps running just fine. The tractor just quits moving."

Your clutch is probably shot, or at the very least needs adjustment.
 
starts,runs, idles great is not how you tell an engines condition. you need to know the oil consumption of the engine and do a compression check. i have seen engines with burnt valves start , run and idle. even if you go and pull 2 plug wires off they still start pretty good.
i was going to suggest clutch disc worn out , but how can this be on 2 tractors at same time? if your just driving and tractor speed slows down and engine speed stays the same and you come to a stop has to be clutch slipping. like we are not getting proper description of whats happening.
 
I have an H that is guttless too. I was thinking mine was a distillate engine originally therefore built for low compression. It has the 3rd hole in the hood for a gasoline tank. Mine will at least pull hills in 5th gear with no major load. These are not NW Iowa sized hills though.

My dad has a super H and it has power comparable if not more than his worn out M. It makes me wonder if the H that you are speaking of has not been rebuilt to super H specs.

I would take 4 clyinder power over 2cylinder any day of the week. They sound nice but that is about it in my opinion. Very crude old beasts until the 3000 and 4000 series in the 60's.
 
When you say they can't get themselves up a hill in high gear - what exactly do they do?

Do they sputter and want to die, or do they just not go?

If no sputtering I might agree with others on the clutch.

But if they're sputtering and the engine's not sounding right - I'd suspect your gas lines are restricted.
 
My hill is no way near yours. True about the JD A versus the Farmall H as far as size but I have seen a Super C run this route just fine which is why I figured the H would be good to go.
 
you tell us how you adjusted the clutches on these two h's. you say you adjusted both and now they both do the same thing.???.
 
Your exactly right. Just driving around, engine speed stays the same and tractor quits moving. Oil consumption is none existent as far as I have been able to tell. Of course there is no dipstick but ports are fine. No smoke or fouled plugs which I would suspect if rings were bad. Raked hay 3 times this summer no issues but never got over 3rd gear. Also you only have to depress the clutch pedal about an inch and it starts to engage.
 
Once you get the clutch slipping issues worked out then you go on to the BIG power differance between an H and a Super H.

I had driven both and was not impressed with the power of an H at all. It could barely pull itself in that high road gear. Then I got on a Super H and WAY BETTER it could even pull up a hill in high gear.
 
(quoted from post at 07:40:35 12/12/12) Okay here is a reply so you all have more information to work with. The engine does not stall. It keeps running just fine. The tractor just quits moving. Believe me this hill is very slight. really almost no hill at all. All I have used this tractor for since i got it was raking hay and pulling a 16 ft trailer around the farm loading junk to be hauled however the last 2 loads of junk were heavy loads and it pulled just fine on relatively level hard ground. I realize high gear is road gear and would not pull a hay ride that fast but this tractor would not pull itself if I was moving it from field to field.I have been pulling this shuttle with a 43' JD A in 5 th gear and it is about the right speed for the 3 mile round trip. The lower H gears that this tractor will pull in will be way too slow for the traffic. This is really more of a people mover at the festival than a hay ride. I would just like to use the H because it is electric starting and to do something different. So any ideas?

If what you are stating can be interpreted as "Engine RPMs do not drop off but tractor slows way down" the problem is the clutchs.
 
(quoted from post at 15:54:36 12/12/12) You must not have much in the way of hills. Here is a picture of my drive way. Neither of the two "H" Farmalls would pull this hill in road gear empty. Put a wagon behind them and it had better be empty or you would come down it back wards.

I am not a big two cylinder/hand clutch fan but a JD "A" would drag an Farmall "H" around all day long. You are comparing two different size tractors.
a92360.jpg

You definitely need to have an IH mechanic work on those 2 Hs. That hill is nothing. Any properly tuned Farmall H wouldn't even break a sweat pulling that hill in road gear.
 
(quoted from post at 07:40:35 12/12/12) Okay here is a reply so you all have more information to work with. The engine does not stall. It keeps running just fine. The tractor just quits moving. Believe me this hill is very slight. really almost no hill at all. All I have used this tractor for since i got it was raking hay and pulling a 16 ft trailer around the farm loading junk to be hauled however the last 2 loads of junk were heavy loads and it pulled just fine on relatively level hard ground. I realize high gear is road gear and would not pull a hay ride that fast but this tractor would not pull itself if I was moving it from field to field.I have been pulling this shuttle with a 43' JD A in 5 th gear and it is about the right speed for the 3 mile round trip. The lower H gears that this tractor will pull in will be way too slow for the traffic. This is really more of a people mover at the festival than a hay ride. I would just like to use the H because it is electric starting and to do something different. So any ideas?

What you are describing is either a clutch that is worn out or in great need of adjustment.
 
Farmall H's and M's aren't noted for being great pullers in road gear even when everything is OK mechanically.

(Don't all you Farmall guys get your bloomers in a bunch; I'm not trying to start a color war. I was raised on a Farmall M and currently have a Super C, Super H, and a Super M.)
 
When I was a kid we used to pull loaded silage wagons with ear corn (100 bu.) up hills in 4 th gear with a H. This was up over the Missouri river bluffs.
 
Hook up to a tree ( or any immovable object) with a stout chain and see if you can dig two holes with the rear wheels in dry ground. If the clutch is slipping you'll know it right away.
 
I'm pretty sure the H wasn't really designed to pull a load in road gear. Think about it, back when they were new, how far did you have to pull your hay wagon or anything else? Most were taking over for horses. And a lot of implements were ground driven so the gears with the power are the slow ones. Just an old tractor from a different era.
 
(quoted from post at 17:29:20 12/12/12) Farmall H's and M's aren't noted for being great pullers in road gear even when everything is OK mechanically.

(Don't all you Farmall guys get your bloomers in a bunch; I'm not trying to start a color war. I was raised on a Farmall M and currently have a Super C, Super H, and a Super M.)

You need a good old IH mechanic to tune them up for you.
 
What you are decribing is a worn out clutch. If you have adjusted it according to the book and it still does the same thing, your clutch is shot. I put one in my H this past summer and it took less then 4 hours to do the job. My hyd. pump was already out and I did not put it back in right away. It is no big deal to put one in. If you look up in the housing it will be plain as day as to what you need to do. Also look in some of the past post on replacing clutches and you should do just fine.

Bob
 
yep your disc is worn out. but why on both tractors at once you said?
and if your depressing clutch 1" its disengaging, not engaging. thats another sign of worn disc.
 
You h is 24 h.p. tested (factory rated at 17) and should pull just fine. This talk of not pulling hills with a light load is nonsense. Our old h's pulled 10 foot silage wagons up hill in road gear just fine. They weren't straight up but they weren't flat either. I'd check the govener and make sure she's tuned up good.
 

For that Hay Ride...

People's Weight adds up fast...

10 200lb people= a Full Ton..!!

Makes it hard to determine how well your "H" would handle Hills...

Brakes are as important as Horse Power..

Ron..
 
I agree about brakes but there are not many hills on the hay ride route. It is paved city streets pretty much flat. My main areas of concern was if it will not pull itself up the slightest incline how will it pull a load and I cannot use too low of a gear because I would back up traffic. We have a festival that has events in 2 areas about 10 blocks apart, downtown is arts crafts shows and the depot is antique tractors, syrup making etc old time stuff. The hay ride shuttle is used to ferry people from one area to the other and the 4h kids charge $1 per person to ride unlimited back and forth all day as a fundraiser. So the city streets between are still open to regular traffic so the hay ride needs to move at a reasonable pace.
 

That clutch will only get worse as it warms up, so better make a plan...replace the clutch/pressureplate or use one of your JDs..!!!

5th is really fast on some IH "H" tractors...
My Grandad's had a Super H kit and the governors turned way up...
Never got it over 1/2 throttle in 5th on the road...that sucker was just too fast, for a tractor...!

Ron
 
Neb test Eary JD A draw bar 18 hp, max pull 2923 lbs IH H draw bar hp 24 hp, max pull 3603 looks like the H wins.. I have 2 h's one with firecraters one stock and a SH . The stock one would pull a 2 bottom plow with a JD about even in the field, the other 2 would lap a JD a plowing. Sounds like a clutch problem and a good tune-up on 50 year old tractors would make a hugh difference.
 
I got a Farmall "H" had an old Farmer tell me one time "Bout the only thing and "H" is good for is pulling biscuits out of the oven" Later that night I beat his Oliver at the County Fair Tractor Pull!
 
(quoted from post at 21:17:42 12/12/12) Neb test Eary JD A draw bar 18 hp, max pull 2923 lbs IH H draw bar hp 24 hp, max pull 3603 looks like the H wins.. I have 2 h's one with firecraters one stock and a SH . The stock one would pull a 2 bottom plow with a JD about even in the field, the other 2 would lap a JD a plowing. Sounds like a clutch problem and a good tune-up on 50 year old tractors would make a hugh difference.

Thank you for those facts.
 
Engine could be worn, clutch could be slipping, Carb and timing could be out of adjustment. Timing can make a huge difference. I can go up plenty steep hills, in fifth gear!
 
I'd bet on the "A" for lugging power.
The "H" would have to drop a gear in places Old Johnny die down to 2 second breaths .
 
I have to drop my 2 cents in here on safety - I'd say road gear on an H with a full wagon full of people is a bad idea even if it could pull them up a hill.

You're talking city driving where anything could hop out in front of you, bicycles zing in front of you, people cut you off, fail to stop a lights, etc. etc.

That's (potentially) way too much weight to try to stop fast with. Even if the brakes work well, at 15mph with a fully loaded wagon, you'll just lock the tires up and slide the tractor.

On a back road that's some white knuckles, but on city streets where you're so close to oncoming traffic and unaware pedestrians, that could get so ugly I don't want to think about it.

A heavier tractor would slide less.

Don't get me wrong the H is a great tractor - but I think 5th gear with a load of people is really pushing things too far.

4th gear is safer, but it really depends on road conditinos - if they're wet or sandy - forget it.

I know the need to stop on a dime is unlikely - but it's the unlikely things that'll kill ya.
 
You pulled loads of grain to the elevators with them and often a 10+ mile one way trip with 125 bu of grain and unless there was a hill you used 5th all the time, you try to use 4th and it would take you all day to deliver one wagon load, there were no trucks used then to haul to the elevator. Our H would pull down to where you could count the explosions in firing.
 
I don't know how you ever get that kind of speed out of an h as they are only supposed to do about 14 MPH. What kind of gears do you have in it? Our 41 was only at that 14 mph or about 2 mph faster than the late John Deere B
 
Tested max pto hp was 27, not the figures you are giving, the late JD B that they mostly competed with is 28 max pto hp.
 
Those hills in your picture tell me that there was something wrong with your tractors, they should handle those hills just fine.
 
If the clutch is not slipping, and the engine is not sputtering, I would suspect the timing is slow, that can make a world of difference.
 
Leroy I always check my numbers very close before I post them. The straight Farmall "H" was only 17-19 drawbar horse power or 21-24 belt. The later Farmall Super "H" was 29 PTO horse power. Still no power house.

As for a JD "B" they where an underpowered tractor as well but they did not have the high road gear that the Farmall "H" had. So they where not as bad on pulling on the road.
 
Leroy neither of those Farmall "H" tractors have been on this farm since 1975. They where in good running condition. That hill you all are saying is nothing will whip a 450 horse power semi going out with a load of grain. That small hill is a 8% slope. It is steeper than it looks. Plus the Farmall "H" we had where both older one that did not have Super H parts in them. They both where bought new and where rated at 21 belt horse power on the original invoices.

The only trouble with those Farmall "H" tractors was that they where under powered for there size and had a real fast road gear.

Also guys trying to make me defend a JD two cylinder is a lost cause. They where a crude tractor that just about put JD out of business. I personally collect the 10 series and newer. I am not a fan of hand clutches or hand brakes. So I only have a few of the older JDs that the family had.

Plus the original poster has a clutch problem that is unrelated to how much horse power his tractor has. He can't get the power to the wheels.
 
(quoted from post at 20:11:11 12/12/12) Leroy I always check my numbers very close before I post them. The straight Farmall "H" was only 17-19 drawbar horse power or 21-24 belt. The later Farmall Super "H" was 29 PTO horse power. Still no power house.

As for a JD "B" they where an underpowered tractor as well but they did not have the high road gear that the Farmall "H" had. So they where not as bad on pulling on the road.
Those are the claimed numbers on the h. Actual tested numbers are 24.17 h.p. at drawbar and 26.20 belt. Super h claimed 22 drawbar actual was 30.69 and had claimed pto at 29 but no test results shown for actual pto but the belt test came in at 33.4 I go to the tractor data page too.
 
Geez Sgt. Safety...he asked about the power on his tractor and got a rather lengthy (not to mention ill informed) lecture on safety. If he had asked about safety, would you have lectured him on power?
 
And if his question was which toaster to use next to his bathtub, would you recommend a brand and walk away thinking, "boy I sure wish he asked about safety"?

No insult intended towards the OP, nor am I lecturing if it sounds that way.

It sounded like they're somebody else's tractors, ("..from two different sources..") and he may not have a lot of experience with them. And that he has other options.

Sorry - pulling a wagon full of hay is one thing.

But when you're talking about pulling a wagon full of mothers, babies, and their great grandparents through busy city streets - in road gear - that's TOTALLY different.

I don't care what you think - a farmall H PROBABLY isn't the right tool for that job, and I don't mind saying so.

It depends entirely upon the size and weight of the wagon, and how many people are on it. And that wasn't mentioned.

- so I'm merely suggesting the OP consider the dangers carefully.

He Probably HAS, but since it wasn't mentioned - I'd rather do the guy a favor and speak up instead keeping quiet for fear of insulting him.
 
which is exactly why you'd probably want to use a tractor large enough to go fast AND safely stop a wagon load of old ladies.
 

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